I have been an amateur astronomer since I was eight. My interests steered me to a PhD in physics, which I got working in an astronomy group at U. C. Berkeley. I could call myself an astrophysicist, but the professional astronomy I have done has been in wavelengths the human eye cannot see, so I retain amateur status in the visible. (The instrument that got my thesis data flew on an Apollo. It observed wavelengths that go about as far as the distance between these two lines || at sea level.)

My amateur observing has been visual: I work in computer science and choose hobbies removed from my job. I jest that I don’t want anything to do with anything even suspected of containing electrons. (Hey, most photons that enter my telescopes haven’t seen an electron in a long time!) (Except for Feynman diagrams, but let’s not go there now ... )

I like to write, and have written a good deal about amateur astronomy. Some of my articles have appeared in Internet news groups, on the TAC web site, in Sky & Telescope magazine, and elsewhere. I have gathered together here a handful of the ones I think are most interesting. Some of this material is over a decade old, so references to current events may be dated, as may be EMail and web addresses.

If you have any questions about amateur astronomy that you think I might be able to answer, by all means send me some EMail, at Jay_Reynolds_Freeman@mac.com.

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The haiku was inspired by watching the night launch of a Black Brant sounding rocket from White Sands Missile Range, from rather close up -- 100 meters or so -- and outside the blockhouse. And by the way ... I don't like haiku: It seems to me that they are just